More people are making online purchases,often after standing in a “bricks and mortar” retail stores trying a product.
The discounts offered are often worth the effort of first looking at something in a traditional store and then buying the product online. The online universe also affords a far greater product selection particularly if the store doesn’t have a particular size or colour in stock.
The logistics supply time from the placing of an online order to its delivery have also dramatically shortned, reducing the delayed gratification effect that was often an inhibiting factor in people placing orders online.
How Information Will Help to Facilitate Growth
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) tracks online retail spending to measure the progress of the market. The ABS tracking clearly indicates significant growth in online sales.
Retailers need to act quickly and responsively to this trend or face severe marginalisation from online competitors. The simple mantra needs to be that an online store needs as much attention as one would apply to a bricks and mortar store – make it as easy and enjoyable as possible for your customers to shop, ensuring their return business.
Particularly in large organisations with branches or franchise stores, it is imperative that employees at all levels are on-board with pushing, improving and making any necessary changes in policy or procedure to ensure that online sales can thrive. Whether or not their branch or store will lose out on a sale to the website should not be seen as a threat – it is for the good of the business as whole. This may require head office reducing the importance of branch-by-branch sales breakdowns, which is a common feature of chain stores and is sometimes the basis for employee incentives and bonuses.
Challenges of Online Business
Businesses must make certain that their online stores can accommodate their customers when they arrive to their website. This involves ensuring that there is adequate inventory and that the site is easy to navigate. The website’s backend must be prepared to handle traffic demands and transactions to avoid losing customers. Online aspirants can very easily lose customers to competitors if a website isn’t up to the high expectations of online shoppers.
Timely and cost-effective delivery is another key challenge that must be considered. Offer free delivery if it’s a viable option for your company. If not then you may need to partner with a courier firm and negotiate prices that ensure highly competitive and timely delivery rates.
According to a McKinsey study, 70 percent of customers will make a decision to purchase an item based upon a review. A simple outstanding word-of-mouth review from a customer can yield amazing results, so it’s vital to ensure you can be proud of the service you offer at your online store.